Over the last five months, El Salvador has suffered unprecedented levels of homicidal violence. According to the country’s Institute of Legal Medicine, more than 5,050 people were murdered this year at a rate of 18 killings a day. There were more assassinations in the past few months than in all of 2012 and 2013 combined. The country’s homicide rate today is almost 100 murders per 100,000 people, or 15 times the global average. El Salvador is not just having a few bad months—it is having a bad century.

Complicating matters, the country’s principal gangs—the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Barrio 18—are coming apart at the seams. They are not only at war with the police and with one another—each is also waging a civil war within its own ranks. With the gangs purging and punishing “traitors” and “snitches,” the bloodletting shows little sign of abating.

Yet there is something different about the surge in murders over the past few months. Until recently, gang violence was mediated by members of the old guard from inside their prison cells. MS-13 leaders inside the notorious Ciudad Barrios prison directed operations using smart phones. Barrio 18 chiefs locked up in the Izalco prison sent out orders using text messages. Some of gang leaders even posted updates of their criminal activities to Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. In one instance, a prisoner was caught using Facebook on his cell phone to order hits on rival gangs.